Are we so earthly minded that we are of no heavenly good or are we so heavenly minded that we are of no earthly good? Here we find the two opposite ends of the spectrum of this Christian walk.
We can become so focused on the things of this Earth (the temporal and flesh oriented) that we lose our eternal perspective and become of little value to the kingdom of heaven. If we only focus on the temporal we shall not live in the realm of the Spirit and that is where the power to minister comes from – not our flesh.
Just as we must walk in grace and truth so must our walk be heavenly and earthly minded. As heaven is our home, earth is the place of our sojourning until we reach our home. And we are called, in our sojourning on this earth, to reach out and touch the heart of man by dispensing the grace and truth of the kingdom of heaven – which is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Sunday, November 14, 2010
my life unknown
what shall come of my life, my future
what does each new day bring forth, what might I expect
what of each new week, new month, and new year
striving, seeking, waiting, wanting
yearning to know and yet unable to foresee
living today worrisome and unsure about the outcome of tomorrow
yet life is as a blink of the eye, a vapor that is here and then quickly gone
the future will come, tomorrow will join us and today shall be a yesterday gone
so I have determined that life is today
striving to accomplish that which has yet to come - might my striving become perseverance
seeking to control all that shall be - might my seeking be trust enabled by faith
waiting with overly anxious anticipation - might my anxious waiting longsuffering develop
wanting for sake of want - might my wanting contentedness become
for my life must be lived in today
honoring, uplifting, restoring
blessing and not usurping
a desire and a will for lovingkindness, faithfulness, truthfulness, grace and mercy
to be poured out from the broken vessel that I am
may this be my life now known
what does each new day bring forth, what might I expect
what of each new week, new month, and new year
striving, seeking, waiting, wanting
yearning to know and yet unable to foresee
living today worrisome and unsure about the outcome of tomorrow
yet life is as a blink of the eye, a vapor that is here and then quickly gone
the future will come, tomorrow will join us and today shall be a yesterday gone
so I have determined that life is today
striving to accomplish that which has yet to come - might my striving become perseverance
seeking to control all that shall be - might my seeking be trust enabled by faith
waiting with overly anxious anticipation - might my anxious waiting longsuffering develop
wanting for sake of want - might my wanting contentedness become
for my life must be lived in today
honoring, uplifting, restoring
blessing and not usurping
a desire and a will for lovingkindness, faithfulness, truthfulness, grace and mercy
to be poured out from the broken vessel that I am
may this be my life now known
Friday, November 5, 2010
back to the basics
TRUTH is where we are to live,
GRACE is what we must dispense,
LOVINGKINDNESS is who we are to be...
GRACE is what we must dispense,
LOVINGKINDNESS is who we are to be...
Monday, November 1, 2010
forsaking the law of the Lord
As we look at these verses in 2nd Chronicles we see a strong admonition for our times. Just as the nation of Israel under Rehoboam became established and strong, our country over the last 50+ years has taken the same course - we became 'established and strong' and we have moved to forsake the law of the Lord. Just as Israel became unfaithful to the Lord, we too have followed that path - as a nation and as the church. Israel was chastised through the king of Egypt - who will be our chastiser?
At least Rehoboam along with the other leaders, after listening to the prophet, finally acknowledged their unfaithfulness and humbled themselves. Who will be the prophet of our day that our leaders will listen to? Will we, as a stubborn, selfish, stiff-necked and rebellious people humble ourselves and acknowledge that the Lord is righteous?
Or are we beginning to see the signs that we shall be in bondage to an ungodly taskmaster due to our unfaithfulness and unwillingness to humble ourselves? As we proceed through this time where our government is becoming more powerful and gaining more control over our daily lives, where more and more people live in the world of 'entitlement' (which becomes enslavement) we may soon become slaves of the state and learn the difference between serving the Lord and serving a worldly kingdom which is an ungodly and oppressive taskmaster !
2 Chronicles 12
When the kingdom of Rehoboam was established and strong, he and all Israel with him forsook the law of the LORD. And it came about in King Rehoboam's fifth year, because they had been unfaithful to the LORD, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the princes of Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and he said to them, "Thus says the LORD, ' You have forsaken Me, so I also have forsaken you to Shishak.'" So the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, "The LORD is righteous."
When the LORD saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah, saying, " They have humbled themselves so I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some measure of deliverance, and My wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by means of Shishak.
"But they will become his slaves so that they may learn the difference between My service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries."
At least Rehoboam along with the other leaders, after listening to the prophet, finally acknowledged their unfaithfulness and humbled themselves. Who will be the prophet of our day that our leaders will listen to? Will we, as a stubborn, selfish, stiff-necked and rebellious people humble ourselves and acknowledge that the Lord is righteous?
Or are we beginning to see the signs that we shall be in bondage to an ungodly taskmaster due to our unfaithfulness and unwillingness to humble ourselves? As we proceed through this time where our government is becoming more powerful and gaining more control over our daily lives, where more and more people live in the world of 'entitlement' (which becomes enslavement) we may soon become slaves of the state and learn the difference between serving the Lord and serving a worldly kingdom which is an ungodly and oppressive taskmaster !
2 Chronicles 12
When the kingdom of Rehoboam was established and strong, he and all Israel with him forsook the law of the LORD. And it came about in King Rehoboam's fifth year, because they had been unfaithful to the LORD, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the princes of Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and he said to them, "Thus says the LORD, ' You have forsaken Me, so I also have forsaken you to Shishak.'" So the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, "The LORD is righteous."
When the LORD saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah, saying, " They have humbled themselves so I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some measure of deliverance, and My wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by means of Shishak.
"But they will become his slaves so that they may learn the difference between My service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries."
Friday, October 22, 2010
a testimony to You
Lord, may my life be a testimony to You,
may I walk steadfastly upon Your path,
and my feet not slip due to my stubborn and sinful ways.
May Your Spirit fill me overflowing with Your grace and Your truth,
and lead me to the place where You want me to be.
May I be a man of God seeking after Your own heart,
my will abandoned to Yours, a faithful child of the King,
for that is what You have created me to be;
And the praise of my lips will give honor and glory to Your name.
May the glory of Your presence fill my house for all to see;
As Your grace and Your mercy illuminate my path.
May Your loving-kindness shine forth through me,
into the darkness of a world that is lost;
As Your joy and Your hope abound in me.
may I walk steadfastly upon Your path,
and my feet not slip due to my stubborn and sinful ways.
May Your Spirit fill me overflowing with Your grace and Your truth,
and lead me to the place where You want me to be.
May I be a man of God seeking after Your own heart,
my will abandoned to Yours, a faithful child of the King,
for that is what You have created me to be;
And the praise of my lips will give honor and glory to Your name.
May the glory of Your presence fill my house for all to see;
As Your grace and Your mercy illuminate my path.
May Your loving-kindness shine forth through me,
into the darkness of a world that is lost;
As Your joy and Your hope abound in me.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Call to service
'O LORD, please grant me success today, and show loving kindness…
Blessed be the LORD, who has not forsaken His loving-kindness and His truth toward me…
As for me, the LORD has guided me in the way that I should go…'
(excerpted from Genesis chapter 24)
- Supplication to the Lord for our mission (His specific calling upon our lives)
- Blessing the Lord for the outcome before it happens and
- Acknowledging His hand in fulfilling that for which we have been called
This is the essence of how Abraham’s servant, by faith, sought to respond to his call to service.
How do we respond to God’s call to serve Him?
Blessed be the LORD, who has not forsaken His loving-kindness and His truth toward me…
As for me, the LORD has guided me in the way that I should go…'
(excerpted from Genesis chapter 24)
- Supplication to the Lord for our mission (His specific calling upon our lives)
- Blessing the Lord for the outcome before it happens and
- Acknowledging His hand in fulfilling that for which we have been called
This is the essence of how Abraham’s servant, by faith, sought to respond to his call to service.
How do we respond to God’s call to serve Him?
Friday, October 8, 2010
stress-filled times
We live in stress-filled times. Economic stress, political stress, emotional stress, spiritual wandering and uneasiness, global anxiousness, wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, disease, pestilence…and in conjunction with this we see lawlessness, greed, pride, arrogance, injustice, innocent bloodshed – not very attractive times. Yet none of this is new and unique to our times nor unknown to the Lord our God.
Habakkuk was a man concerned about his times and was perplexed about what the Lord was doing in and through His people. Here are Habakkuk’s words:
His question to the Lord -
“How long, O LORD, will I call for help, And You will not hear?
His observations of his times -
Why do You make me see iniquity, And cause me to look on wickedness?
Yes, destruction and violence are before me; Strife exists and contention arises.
Therefore the law is ignored and justice is never upheld.
For the wicked surround the righteous; therefore justice comes out perverted.
Their justice and authority originate with themselves.
His questioning of the Lord’s actions (inaction) -
Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, and You cannot look on wickedness with favor. Why do You look with favor on those who deal treacherously? Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up those more righteous than they?
His stance –
I will stand on my guard post and station myself on the rampart; and I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me, and how I may reply when I am reproved.
The Lord’s response –
Then the LORD answered me and said, "Record the vision and inscribe it on tablets…For the vision is yet for the appointed time; it hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; for it will certainly come, it will not delay.” “Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; but the righteous will live by his faith.” "For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.”
Habakkuk’s prayer –
LORD, I have heard the report about You and I fear. O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years… I heard and my inward parts trembled, at the sound my lips quivered. Decay enters my bones, and in my place I tremble. Because I must wait quietly for the day of distress…
As we look at Habakkuk and his concern for what the Lord was doing, for how he questioned what was going on, how it was difficult to see through the stress of his day, how the Lord responded to him and his subsequent response to the Lord, I believe that we can glean the following for our day:
1) There will be stress in our times
2) None of what is going on is out of God’s sight
3) We are to stand firm and listen for the Lord and be prepared to respond
4) God does have His plan and it will certainly come, it will not delay
5) It is our FAITH in the One True God that matters
6) God WILL have the final say and His glory will reign
7) We are to pray with perseverance trusting by faith
8) And finally, the key to it all -
Yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord GOD is my strength, and He has made my feet like hinds' feet, and makes me walk on my high places.
Habakkuk was a man concerned about his times and was perplexed about what the Lord was doing in and through His people. Here are Habakkuk’s words:
His question to the Lord -
“How long, O LORD, will I call for help, And You will not hear?
His observations of his times -
Why do You make me see iniquity, And cause me to look on wickedness?
Yes, destruction and violence are before me; Strife exists and contention arises.
Therefore the law is ignored and justice is never upheld.
For the wicked surround the righteous; therefore justice comes out perverted.
Their justice and authority originate with themselves.
His questioning of the Lord’s actions (inaction) -
Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, and You cannot look on wickedness with favor. Why do You look with favor on those who deal treacherously? Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up those more righteous than they?
His stance –
I will stand on my guard post and station myself on the rampart; and I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me, and how I may reply when I am reproved.
The Lord’s response –
Then the LORD answered me and said, "Record the vision and inscribe it on tablets…For the vision is yet for the appointed time; it hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; for it will certainly come, it will not delay.” “Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; but the righteous will live by his faith.” "For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.”
Habakkuk’s prayer –
LORD, I have heard the report about You and I fear. O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years… I heard and my inward parts trembled, at the sound my lips quivered. Decay enters my bones, and in my place I tremble. Because I must wait quietly for the day of distress…
As we look at Habakkuk and his concern for what the Lord was doing, for how he questioned what was going on, how it was difficult to see through the stress of his day, how the Lord responded to him and his subsequent response to the Lord, I believe that we can glean the following for our day:
1) There will be stress in our times
2) None of what is going on is out of God’s sight
3) We are to stand firm and listen for the Lord and be prepared to respond
4) God does have His plan and it will certainly come, it will not delay
5) It is our FAITH in the One True God that matters
6) God WILL have the final say and His glory will reign
7) We are to pray with perseverance trusting by faith
8) And finally, the key to it all -
Yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord GOD is my strength, and He has made my feet like hinds' feet, and makes me walk on my high places.
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